Bento contents:

• 3/4 cup (1 cup = 220ml) brown rice, 170 cal
• 4 Tbs. Vegan dry curry made with soybeans, 200 cal
• Cucumber and cherry tomato salad with yogurt sauce, 40 cal
• Broccoli, 10 cal

Total calories (approx): 420 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10 minutes in the morning

Type: Japanese-yohshoku, vegan (soybeans or tempeh)

This is a bento using dry curry made with soybeans. The curry mix is quite spicy (I used the maximum amount of spice in the recipe) so the cooling salad is a nice counterpart.

Half of the curry mix is mixed together with the rice, and the rest is put on top of the rice.

The salad is very easy to make, so this bento only takes up to 10 minutes to assemble, provided you have the dry curry mix pre-made and stashed in the freezer. If you prefer the meat version, that freezes well too, but it will be higher in calories.

This bento is packed with vegetables (chopped up in the curry as well as the salad and the broccoli) and is high in fiber, so it's very filling.

Recipe: Cucumber and cherry tomato salad with yogurt sauce

Makes 1 serving.

• 1/4 large cucumber
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes
• 2 Tbs. plain soy based yogurt (or plain milk yogurt if you're not trying to keep it vegan)
• A pinch of salt, plus 1/4 tsp. or so of podina masala powder (see notes)

Cut the cucumber in half and de-seed. Cut into small chunks. Halve the cherry tomatoes or just leave them whole.

Mix the yogurt with the salt or the podina masala. Mix with the vegetables.

Notes

Podina masala is an Indian spice mix that has things like mint, coriander, dried pomegranate and more in it. It's available at Indian grocery stores, or online. If you can't find it, just add a little dill or other herb instead, or just go with plain salt.

Timeline

The curry mix, frozen rice (if you're using that) and broccoli are microwaved all at once, on a dish covered with plastic. By the time the frozen parts are defrosted and heated up, the broccoli will be cooked through.